Cinder twirled and spun, dancing between the grimm, slicing and impaling.
She lifted a hand and blasted out with Maiden fires, scorching a flying Teryx about to bear down on a fleeing family of four.
Mercury blasted aside two Sabres, rolled past a third and swept his leg under it, felling it. A swift flip and he brought his boot down on its head to end its life.
Miltia slashed and twirled, dancing between and around several enemies of her own. A precision and skill Cinder hadn't ever imagined the teenager could have - but she did have it.
Cinder was...impressed.
She told the girl so, earning her a strange look that wasn't exactly something that encouraged Cinder to try complimenting her again.
A red streak across the sky caught Cinder's attention - and then soaring down and materializing out of rose petals was her.
Ruby Rose.
"We've got three goliaths two blocks to the east - headed this way!"
Cinder eyed the girl, who was eyeing her in turn. She wondered if Qrow Branwen had sent the girl to her specifically, because of her Silver Eyes - to keep Cinder in line, or put her down if necessary. A threat, a force of leverage over her. Or had the girl decided to come do that all on her own?
In the end, she gave Ruby Rose a tight nod, and turned her attention to the giant grimm that had just come around the corner.
In all the chaos of Mantle, it wasn't that hard to steal an airship and fly up to Atlas.
It was a bit harder to land and bail, but Neo managed that one okay.
Getting to the Huntsmen Academy was easy enough for her - so was finding her way to General Ironwood's office, even if it took a while.
She searched around the desk until she hit the jackpot: Ironwood's scroll!
Neo snatched it up and tapped into it, finding his personal audio logs (a feature she'd never used on hers, obviously, but she knew about it).
It took patience - there were a lot of them - but she eventually came to the information she needed.
"...I- I spoke with Winter today. I told her to go to the hospital again with Penny. We need to be ready, she needs to be...ready. To do what she has to. I'd like to believe she has it in her, but I'm honestly not so sure. She's often emotional, surprisingly emotional, and she can even be impulsive and-"
Neo paused the entry and put the scroll into her pockets. A hospital in Atlas, then...but which one? She sat down in Ironwood's chair and started up his computer's holoprojector; a search of Atlas showed her there were two major ones, one on her side of the city, and one on the far side.
Which one was the right one?
The General would want to keep the Winter Maiden close to him, surely...
The closer one, then!
Neo just had to hope she was right about this.
She was about as determined in her soul to stop the Emerald girl from making her worst mistake in life as Cinder was; after all, Neo had made a whole slew of those in hers already, hadn't she? And lately, because of Cinder, she'd been reflecting on it all unwillingly again. Feeling, and remembering things she didn't want to. But she had anyways. And it hadn't been pleasant for her. Because what she found was just why she hadn't wanted to remember any of it to begin with - because she herself was not...pleasant.
Neo had remembered being sixteen and shoving that boy over, she had remembered holding a knife to his throat, she had remembered her own flush of pleasure and that heady sensation in her, the heaving of her chest. Exhilaration. She had remembered pleasures of flesh to follow pleasures of mind and soul - his, not as willingly felt as hers - and she had remembered the overwhelming confusion and horror to come immediately after. She had remembered coming home from school to her parents that day, remembered how they had yelled at her, looked at her for it...how upset and how worried they'd been.
She had remembered her brief stint in jail, how her parents had turned a years long prison sentence into not even a single second - the flurry of news controversy, the boy's family accusing hers of exactly what they had done: used connection and money to keep their sixteen year old daughter from suffering any consequences for her actions. She had remembered the medicine, all the same, that her parents had privately insisted on giving her, she had remembered her pregnancy accelerating along, and she had remembered ultimately giving birth. She had remembered being overjoyed about it, despite her own feelings on how it had come about - what she had done to that boy. She had remembered feeling even more sick with herself for that, and spending hours laying awake begging the medicines to do their work on her more, faster, better. She had remembered every loving, waking moment spent adoring, spent caring, spent with. She had remembered sleeping every night in her bedroom with her son next to her.
She had remembered strained relations with her parents even still, remembered friends at school all avoiding her like she was a grimm, and she had remembered starting to care less and less about school, to the point where she just stopped going (her parents had said that maybe it was for the best, keep her at home at all times).
And she had remembered, after just three months of this, how she had lost herself again - this time, with so much more severe consequences that not even her parents could shield her from. That they had chosen not to shield her from at all.
She had remembered her mother's horrified screams that had acted as her very own, laying on that bed of blood and coming out of it all, coming down from it all and seeing, realizing-
Neo had remembered being thrown out of the house - very literally, by her father's strong hands - and she had remembered from then on a life on the streets. Months wandering around Vale on her own, in and out of alleys, other homeless areas, getting into a few different people's homes that never lasted more than a few days. She had remembered her multiple attempts to just kill her shitty self already, to see her son again, to beg for forgiveness...but they hadn't taken.
And she had remembered Roman finding her, sitting with her in an alley. How he had just...listened to her - offered her his scroll, let her tap away as she pleased on it. How he had promised her safety, food, comfort, warmth, and a life to live with purpose again. A life with him to look out for her, to teach her and train her. "Since, evidently, nobody else seems to want to bother." His words to her, said loudly and with a grandiose wave of an arm - but with a gentleness that had been so...Neo had clung to it immediately.
Neo supposed she was still clinging to it.
Roman, who had taught her to fight, told her not to be ashamed of who or what she was - had never even said a word when she fell to those terrible urges, that heady feeling, so regularly felt in the life of a criminal - but when she'd unlocked her Semblance, and taken to its ability to change herself into anyone but herself, to play roles of people not the girl she was, Roman had pivoted for her and encouraged her to master it, and to have fun with it all. That if that was what she wanted, then who was he to say different?
Though, while Neo could say that playing her roles made her feel more comfortable, it had never ever stifled those urges. Whether she was some helpful nurse, or a cocky pilot, or even a disciplined and focused member of a kingdom's military...when those urges roared in her, she could never forget just who she really was inside. No hiding, no denying. Never. Not a chance!
There'd never be a chance. Not even the best medicine money could buy had helped! Not even isolating herself at home. Not even...knowing exactly who and what she'd been holding propped up in her lap that day in her bedroom.
The sickness didn't discriminate, it didn't spare anyone - whether family, whether son, child, baby...there was never an exception when it reared its head in her.
For weeks now, Neo had been slipping away from Cinder and the others, every single time doing her damnedest to sate those urges as they came - to just get away from them when they rose. Especially, get as far away from Maggy as possible. Thank god Flora had left with the little cutiepie; Neo didn't have to be so terrified about that anymore.
At least not that. Not again.
And now here Neo was, trying to stop somebody else from doing the same thing that made her feel so sick inside - every time. Because Cinder had asked, because Cinder was trying with her...trying to be something like what Roman had been to her, Neo had recognized, even as she had rebuked her most serious attempts at it (for who could ever replace Roman in her soul like that?).
But it was more than that: Cinder was always trying to be better! To do more! To make up for...to fix her...and she wanted Neo to join her in that, too. She thought Neo could do the same!
Cinder...believed in Neo to do the same.
So Neo would believe in herself, too.
Like she hadn't since she was sixteen, and desperate and hopeful as she shoved multiple pills down her throat.
Neo parked the car she'd stolen in front of the hospital entrance, and she walked inside.
She moved through the lobby without being seen - courtesy of her illusion Semblance - and swiftly navigated the hallways.
Though, just where she was going or what she was looking for, she wasn't even sure. Just...anything that didn't look like it fit, as Roman would have told her. Find what stands out, and looks like it's trying not to stand out.
And low and behold, Neo did: she found an isolated little hall and a door closed, with military guards standing in front of it.
Neo imitated their outfits and put on an air of conformity and familiarity. She walked with hands behind her back, shoulders squared.
She raised a hand as she approached, giving a small wave and a nod - a flash of a smile.
One guard gave a nod back, leaned over and hit the button to open the door for her.
She strode through, chin raised.
As soon as she'd rounded the corner, she let her arms fall to her sides and let her shoulders drop a bit.
And she smiled to herself.
It's always so easy!
If only it was so easy to handle herself as it was to deal with others.
Neo strode down the hall and made for the first door she saw.
Inside the hospital room, she saw the back of one Emerald Sustrai, standing right in front of an old woman asleep on a bed.
A sickle was in the girl's hand, held loosely at her side. It was shaking. Little noises came from her, sniffling and hitching breaths.
Emerald turned immediately at sound of the door, her eyes setting on Neo with shock. And then, resolve. She grabbed out her second weapon, aiming the gun at Neo across the distance.
Neo held up her hands, twisting her face into sympathy and shaking her head quickly.
"What are you doing here?" Emerald's voice was thick, strained.
Neo reached slowly for her waist, her scroll. She got it out and began typing a furious, long message. Then, she knelt down, placed it on the floor, and slid it across to the girl. And she remained where she was, like that.
Emerald stooped to retrieve it, never taking her eyes off Neo. Until she had to.
A gasp escaped the girl's lips. Those lips twisted. Tears welled in her eyes. And then she let out a yell and hurled the scroll against the wall - shattering it. Her sickle transformed back into a second gun, which joined the other in aiming at Neo. "W-why did she send you? Why didn't she come here herself if she wanted to show me she cared so much? Why didn't she...why did she leave me in the first place?! Alone with that- monster!"
Neo put a hand on hip, gesturing with annoyance to her broken scroll. She threw up her hands at the girl.
Emerald ducked her head, gritting her teeth. "If she's not going to even bother showing up to me in p-person, then I don't care what she has to say! Now stay back - I have a mission to do!"
Neo took a step forward, holding out her arms. Don't do this, you don't have to do this - I know it will ruin you inside. I'm ruined inside over mine. Cinder is over hers - a lot of hers...
Emerald's expression changed - she could see what Neo was desperate to convey to her. And... "It's too late! If Cinder isn't going to care about me, I'm done caring about her!"
Neo was about to trigger her Semblance, get close to the girl - try to get her away from the old woman, the Winter Maiden - when the door to the room opened again.
"Both of you, put those weapons down and surrender yourselves - I'm only giving you one chance!" Winter Schnee barked out, hand on the hilt of her blade.
Penny Polendina was beside her, fists clenched, eyes narrowed. Behind her floated an array of blades - a round dozen! Her eyes found Neo, and widened. She put a hand on Winter's arm. "Wait - Neopolitan is with Cinder Fall."
"Yes, she is, I'm aware, Penny."
"Qrow Branwen said we could trust them to help-"
"I know what he said!" Winter snapped. "But just because he is comfortable working with murderers and thieves does not mean that I am! Forget what he said: What I am saying is that we're going to follow military protocol when it comes to wanted fugitives infiltrating the kingdom - and infiltrating the room holding one of the most heavily guarded secrets we have! Am I clear?"
"But if we can just talk to her, why shouldn't we?" Penny pressed on. She looked at Neo, not waiting for an answer from her compatriot. Her head tilted. An arm came forward, palm up. "Please, I would hope that this is a misunderstanding of some sort. Perhaps you came here to warn us? Or maybe to protect-"
"Penny, enough!" Winter drew her blade, and stepped forward. Her eyes were cold, biting into Neo like the bad weather in Mantle. "Last chance: Surrender. Now!"
Neo looked at her, she looked at Penny Polendina - pulled all her desperation and frustration onto her face - and then she looked to Emerald.
Emerald, who was standing there with bared teeth, weapons now pointed at Winter and Penny.
Please...
Emerald growled, and then she lunged, guns transforming into chained sickles.
Neo flew to intercept her, bringing her umbrella up to catch her weapons on it. She spun them both around and threw the girl at the nearest wall; Emerald caught herself and bounced right back with an Aura blast out of her feet.
Neo redirected a blow, caught another slash and let it slide along her umbrella and twirled around the girl, kicked her in the lower back - sent her stumbling right for an advancing Winter.
Winter punched Emerald in the gut, seized her by the neck and threw her back toward Penny, and then she was rushing for Neo with a cold look on her face.
Neo backed up and corrected her footing, to properly begin blocking and exchanging blows with the elite operative of Atlas military. And she wasn't elite for nothing; Neo was finding her just a bit difficult to keep up with!
Penny was battling Emerald, overwhelming her with many blades and knocking her around, batting her across the face and the body with the flat of her blades.
"Penny, what are you doing?" Winter snarled out, sparing a glance. "Neutralize the threat!"
"She does not look like she wants to do this," Penny retorted.
"Shut up, you don't know anything, you stupid toy!" Emerald yelled, reflecting several blades with desperation.
"Penny-" Winter began, furious.
"She's crying."
"And yet she's still here!" Winter hurled out as she drove a knee into Neo's stomach and uppercutted her with the butt of her sword, sparking her Aura something fierce. "Enough screwing around, you bring her down!"
Neo triggered her Semblance and rushed for Emerald, throwing herself at her and smacking her hard across the face with her weapon.
Her illusion shattered behind her as Winter barreled through it - the woman was left confused a moment, but then she'd whirled and snarled. Was coming right back for her.
Neo kicked twice at Emerald, shoved her in the arm to spin her around into the path of one of Penny's blades - an Aura flicker resulted.
Winter was lunging, thrusting her blade out for Neo.
Neo flipped over her head, flipped off of her head, and came down on the other side of Emerald. She punched the girl in the ribs, slapped her with her umbrella across back of the head three times in quick succession. Emerald stumbled, caught several of Penny's blades up and down her front, flickering her Aura each time.
Winter slashed for Neo; Neo ducked and came up to uppercut Emerald, drive her umbrella's length into her stomach with both hands. Winter seized the back of her coat and shoved her forward, bringing her blade slicing down for the back of her neck. Neo lashed out at Winter's knee with a precise kick, causing the woman to wobble and her strike to go off-course. Neo was able to slip away, out of the fray.
Winter's face twisted, and she flew at Neo with a second blade suddenly in hand now.
Neo dodged and weaved, backflipped several times over to evade the swords - but it was tough going, even for her!
This whole thing is going to be tough going, she reflected. But she set her jaw and renewed her resolve with another look at Emerald. This was for the girl's own good; she knew better than anyone.
Neo knew.
And she had to save her from it!
Cinder dragged a superheated blade across the flank of the goliath, searing it through with intense fires.
It collapsed, but still wasn't quite dead yet.
A swift few sniper rounds through its skull from Ruby Rose changed that.
Mercury killed off a pack of six Sabyrs, brushing off his shoulders and giving a light bounce on his feet. He waved a hand with a smirk set on his face. "Easy pickings - give me something harder."
Ruby paused suddenly, face changing, hand going to her ear. "We've got a Megoliath coming! Blake's leading it to us!"
Mercury lifted a finger, gave it a delicate point. "That could be a challenge; bring it on."
Blake. The name rang familiar in her mind: the Belladonna girl - the one who'd saved the lives of Maggy and Flora the other night, from Tyrian.
Cinder didn't have to wait long for the faunus girl in question to come racing around a corner, a massive grimm behind her - rampaging, so hard it smashed through a storefront before continuing to give chase.
Belladonna led the Megoliath right down the street, straight for Cinder.
She tossed up a ribbon and swung high off a lamppost.
Cinder squared her shoulders and brought up her hands, exploding with Maiden fires.
The Megoliath was being incinerated, but not fast enough to kill it - stop its rampage. It was tough.
Okay, then...
Cinder let her flames die and swirled a hand, creating an actual tornado around the creature - lifting it up off the street, spinning it around wildly. She flicked her wrist and sent it flying a hundred feet into the air. It came down and hit with a thundering crash - dead.
"Awww, come on - I didn't even get a piece of it," Mercury complained, throwing up his hands.
Belladonna was staring at Cinder, eyes wide, jaw dropped. "T-that was..."
Cinder raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"
"Incredible..." the girl breathed.
Cinder flashed a smile. "Thanks; I try. And..."
Belladonna eyed her. "Yes...?"
"I...I owe you another thank you - for Maggy, and Flora," Cinder said, quiet and awkward.
"Oh - that was nothing, I was just doing my j-job."
"Just take the gratitude - I don't give it out freely," Cinder said dryly.
"She reaaaaally doesn't," Mercury said, putting a hand to one side of his mouth, as if imparting a secret. "Ever."
Belladonna flushed, nodded to Cinder. "Right - okay. You're welcome, then. I was glad I could protect them."
Cinder nodded back. "That's more like it."
Ruby Rose came striding up to them. Her and Blake exchanged looks. "Where is the next problem area at?" Blake asked her teammate.
Ruby put hand to ear - to earpiece - eyes furrowed. "It sounds like Yang and Miltia need help out west."
"Then we'll head that way." Blake nodded. "Tell them it will take us some time."
"You people take too long to get anywhere," Cinder remarked. She stepped forward and seized the girls' arms, bent her knees. She gazed at Mercury, reaching out for his wrist.
He pulled away, raising his hands. "Hey now, I'm okay with taking a little walk. I like the breeze."
"W-wait, what are you even-" Blake started to stammer.
"Just don't squirm too much, and you'll be fine," Cinder advised her. And with that, she blasted off into the night sky, carrying the two screaming girls along with her.
She soared west, eyes scanning around herself - keeping a watch out for flying grimm.
What she didn't ever count on was a hailstorm of bullets that came splattering into her front, barraging her Aura and knocking her out of the air.
Cinder twisted and fell, trying to right herself - but it was too late! She slammed into the roof of a building, bounced off it, letting go of the two huntresses in the process, and fell down into an empty street alone.
The sound of boots on concrete.
"Well, well, well...what a coincidence it is, running into you like this! Oh, it has been ages, hasn't it? We have so much catching up to do!"
Cinder lifted her head, and set her eye on none other than Tyrian.
Rage. Like nothing felt before in her entire life - not even for Ruby Rose, not even for Salem, not even for her stepmother - not for anyone or anything.
She didn't even register the golden and blue lamp hanging from the man's belt.
"My oh my, yes we do! Say, for instance, did you know I got a nice look at your adorable little baby sister the other night? I would just love to meet her again, give that cute little face a squeeze - if you get what I'm-"
Cinder burst into flames, casting off in waves, sheer force that annihilated shopfronts, turned signposts to ash, and exploded several holes in the street around her. She rose into the air, and brought her arm up over head.
Storm clouds rolled, rumbling - turning a glowing orange to light up the night.
Fire tornados came swirling down onto the world, sucking up cars and debris, and nearby grimm.
Fireballs rained down on the world from the scorched sky, exploding on contact.
Tyrian was leaping about, laughing high. He aimed his weapons at her from a rooftop and unloaded at her - every single bullet refused to hit her, striking magical barrier.
She gazed down at him, shoving her palm at him; the building he was perched on exploded. A purple gravity sphere appeared in the middle of it all, pulling Tyrian in, snatching him out of mid air as he leaped away. The debris swirled around him, chunks of stone knocking into him to batter his Aura.
Undisguised fear on his face now.
Cinder closed her fist, and the shattered building came rushing in on Tyrian.
It looks like I squeezed you first.
She breathed, and let it all go.
The world went dark again, the fires faded - everything was calm, and still.
She touched down on the devastated street again.
She stalked for the pile of debris, and blood, and gore that had once been Tyrian Callows. That golden and blue lamp was among it all, somehow still gleaming, and somehow still intact.
The Relic of Knowledge, she realized now, in clarity of post murder. The description Salem had given them...this fit it perfectly.
The one she'd gone to Haven to retrieve - and failed to.
The night she had freed herself of all this.
Cinder stooped down to pick it up by the handle, holding it up and giving it a closer look. Pretty, pulsing, neat and clean...whispering to her with...
"Cinder!"
She startled, turning.
Ruby Rose stood there, her scythe gripped in hand. Her lips were pressed, her eyes were hard.
Cinder gave a snort, and clipped the thing to her hip. "Don't be an idiot," she told the girl, sauntering past her and shaking her head.
Behind her, she heard Ruby Rose let a breath go.
Idiot. I couldn't go back to Salem even if I wanted to - and I never want to. Not even this would get me back in her good graces. That's long past us.
Cinder strode for Blake, giving her a look over. "You're not hurt, are you?"
"After all of that? Surprisingly, no," Blake laughed, shaking her head. Her eyes fell on the Relic, but she said nothing.
"So, how does it work?" Cinder asked, gesturing down to it.
"Nothing too complicated: just say 'Jinn' and-"
"Blake, no!" Ruby's voice cried shrilly.
Cinder looked over a shoulder at the girl. "Calm your non-existent tits - I don't even know what it does. What could I possibly do with it? And besides, aren't we all on the same side now?"
"I- wha- what?!"
Cinder smirked, straightening her head, and finding Blake with flushed cheeks and a hand clasped to her mouth.
She held out an arm. "Can we move along now? We do have somewhere to be, don't we?"
"Right." Blake took it gingerly. "Ruby, come on-"
A Teryx came hurtling over a rooftop, and its long beak snatched up Ruby Rose.
Her Aura flickered as the grimm flew off with her.
"Ruby!" Blake yelled out, horrified.
Cinder growled and flew up into the air, giving chase to the grimm.
She reached out her hand, pulsing it blue; the Teryx's wings began to freeze over, and it fell.
Hit the side of a building, bringing a wall down.
Cinder landed, waving her hand as it glowed with magic; the debris soared away, revealing the grimm and the girl.
The Teryx whipped its head around, red eyes falling on Cinder.
Sorry... she thought vaguely, sending a spear through its brains.
It evaporated, dropping Ruby Rose.
Cinder put hand on hip, staring down at the girl.
Ruby Rose had the good grace to look ashamed now. In a very small voice she said, "I'm sorry."
"Good." Cinder turned away and stalked off. Try to apologize for my eye next, and we might get somewhere.
Suddenly an Ursa Major was roaring, and smacking her bodily with a huge clawed limb.
Cinder went rolling across the street, hitting a mailbox and denting it.
The Relic had gotten loose - it lay a few feet away.
Cinder rolled for it, snatching it up and extending a hand to blast out flames at the Ursa - it was killed in short order. But the Teryx and Ursa had attracted more, as grimm did - several more Ursa, and eight Sabyrs.
Oh, and what looked to be eight Manticores flying in from above.
Great...
Ruby Rose came rushing out of the shopfront, right to her. She glanced all around, at the grimm surrounding them. She looked down at herself - at her own empty hands. "Oh no, I dropped my weapon, I- where did it even land, we were flying and I-"
"Ugh. Just stay behind me!"
There was a great crashing, the street rumbling, and a Megoliath was breaking through a building, stomping out onto the street behind them.
Ruby turned, her eyes wide. She looked all around, up to the sky, and then to Cinder. "Say her name!"
"What? Whose-"
"Jinn! Say it!"
Cinder was bewildered - but she didn't question it. She looked down at the Relic in her hands, and she spoke the name clearly: "Jinn."
And then the world around her came to a halt.
Alarms died away, the grimm froze in their tracks - snowfall itself just froze in mid air.
The Relic began to tremble, to glow, and it began to emit plooms of blue smoke as it floated out of her arms to hover a few feet away from Cinder.
The smoke whirled and expanded, coalescing into a great blue...woman, clad in golden chains. And nothing else at all.
Cinder stared, cheeks heated. "What?" she said blankly.
Suddenly that great figure was floating forward, bearing down on her. "I am Jinn, a being created by the God of Light, to aid humanity in its pursuit of knowledge. I can answer three questions every one hundred years. You're in luck, as I'm still able to answer one last question."
Cinder regarded this woman, this Jinn, for a long time. She looked down over herself, then to Ruby Rose, who was eyeing her with a most critical expression - and curiosity.
She lifted her head, and met Jinn's patient gaze once more.
The question didn't even matter - what mattered was depriving Salem this Relic, depriving her the question, she realized now.
All the same, there was one question springing to mind - only because Flora had once asked it of her. If Cinder was going to deprive Salem the question...why not get some use out of herself in the process?
"What is my-" Her words caught. She breathed. No, that wasn't the right wording. That was too basic, too... "Who are my family?"
Jinn smiled. "Your question was excellently chosen: Your family is the family of Aryle - your father was Marcus Aryle, and your mother is Tyra Aryle."
Cinder drew a sharp breath, her eye fluttering. "Is? Not was?"
Jinn's smile remained fixed as she disappeared in a poof of smoke. The Relic's glow faded, and it gently fell to the ground.
And the world around Cinder started up again.
Cinder took up the now useless Relic, seized Ruby's arm roughly, and she blasted up into the skies once more to find her way back to Blake Belladonna.